Skip to main content

Follow Fest Interview and Sharing

When I first became a blogger it was difficult to know if I had readers and visitors coming to my blog. I’d post and be met by the sounds of crickets. Then, I branched out into the world of the blogosphere, a world I didn't know really existed. From my ventures, I met a lot of interesting bloggers. I've started following and commenting on numerous blogs, for you see, prior to my outings, I too was out among the crickets. Lurking about but seldom saying anything.





A fellow blogger I've met through my journeys around the blogosphere is Melissa Maygrove. She had the brilliant idea to have a Follow Fest, where we share about who we are, what we do and most importantly, how you can connect with us further.

It is my intention through joining Follow Fest, that I’ll connect with many more readers and people interested enough in what I do to want to learn more by following. So, here goes my entry for the fest.

Name: 
Stephanie Rose Bird

Fiction or nonfiction? 
I wrote both; nonfiction for about 15 years and fiction for just a couple.


What genres do you write?

Fiction: Literary Young Adult (YA) Fantasy/Paranormal.
Nonfiction: Alternative Spirituality, Magick/Paganism, Healing and Mind Body Spirit.


Are you published?

Yes. I've had five nonfiction books published. I have a new one under contract, which is a novel.

Do you do anything in addition to writing?

Lots! I paint and do mixed media art. Am a mother and wife and chief garden tender, sometime cook and chauffeur. I do freelance writing published in magazines and online in the genres indicated above. My work has been published in anthologies and encyclopedias. I've done content editing for many years. I mentor and coach writers and give critiques as a Publishing Consultant. You can learn more about the services I offer on Elance. I also teach fine art and offer retreat experiences, as well as healing workshops.


Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m currently on a journey of transformation. I've been losing weight since January. In the process finding out new things about lots of areas of my life. I practice magick; not just write about it. I’m an herbalist, dedicated to the magickal aspects of healing plants. I have not as of yet discounted the possibility that faeries or dragons exist.


What are you reading right now?

Tao te Ching by Lao Tzu, and "A New Earth: Awakening to your Life's Purpose, Eckhart Tolle," nonfiction. 
"Guilty Pleasures" by Laurell K. Hamilton, "The Wolves of Midwinter" by Anne Rice and "The Book of Life" by Deborah Harkness, fiction.

Which authors influenced you the most?
Stephen King, hands down. I am also very fond of Edgar Allan Poe and William Shakespeare, Carlos Castaneda, Anne Rice, Deborah Harkness, Alice Walker, and a vast array of American poets.

Where can people connect with you?

Twitter: https://twitter.com/StephanieRoseBi


Author pages:
Amazon

Author Website



Do you have a Newsletter?

I come out with a product newsletter for my Almost Edible Natural Products a few times a year. Contact me through my author website and I’ll add you to the mailing list.


Is there anything else you’d like us to know?

I've had so much back and forth, on again off, with my newest work of nonfiction, “Mama Earth’s Spiritual Guide to Weigh Loss.” 2 book deals that fell through for various reasons blogged about here. Tons of rejection from literary agents. I could go on. Stay tuned to see how this develops. It all seems to be taking a turn for the better. I’ll post here soon, with some good news!

In terms of my novels, I've been through the ringer with the one that is to be published next year. I get very hot on it and then cold. It’s a YA Literary Fantasy novel that began as a memoir. The memoir aspect has been virtually buried but every now and then it pops up its head and I shelve the book for a few more months or years, until I can make it go away.



For fans of Sticks, Stones, Roots and Bones, it looks like the publication of a new type of Hoodoo book is in the works...stay tuned!

A special thanks to Melissa, host of Follow Fest, all my readers, visitors, newly joining members and long time supporters.





Comments

  1. Thanks for taking part in Follow Fest, Stephanie. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's a lot of fun, so thank you! Great meeting and linking to so many creative people.

    ReplyDelete
  3. OMGosh!!! I have always been drawn to magick! What a great thing to have a talent for. Too bad we weren't closer, I would totally be your understudy! My friend Jackie and I always say we are secret witches cause we can sense things, and when we put thoughts into the universe, things will happen. No joke!! I'm sure you and I will become great buddies!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OK, I want to say OMG too!! This is just too cool that we've found each other this way. I'm also doing lots of studies into Law of Attraction, (what you and Jackie are into). So glad to have connected through Follow Fest. I liked your energy straight away through your post. Let's keep in touch and see what magickal stuff starts to unfold.

      Delete
    2. Definitely!! *goosebumps* Magical things are bound to happen!!

      Delete
  4. It's always nice to get to know you more, Stephanie. And I haven't discounted the possibility of faeries or dragons either. Or unicorns! ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah yes, how could I forget the gentle unicorn? If you could see the tangle of the current state of my garden, you'd would swear there are faeries living in there. If they are real, I'm sure they are having fun outside my window among the wildflowers. Thanks for stimulating my imagination this morning Chrys!

      Delete
  5. I remember this from last year. I think it's a great way to connect with other bloggers.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yeh, Stephen King! :)

    Thanks for visiting my blog earlier. It's nice to see you over here now. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's funny how so many of mentioned him in the blogging forum because whenever I'm in writing groups I never hear his name uttered. It's always someone like Proust, Plath or Hemingway. Go figure! Thanks for stopping by as well.

      Delete
  7. My, my, my, Stephanie, you are truly an interesting person. I loved learning so much about you from this post, plus I've perused your websites and learned even more.

    All of your books look just as interesting as you are. I'm thrilled for you as you walk your journey of transformation and spiritual growth. We definitely have that in common. We also have my home state of Illinois in common. I worked in Chicago for several years and grew up in the Chicago suburbs. My family and I now live in North Carolina. Love Eckhart Tolle, and Don Miguel Ruiz. The Four Agreements is one of my favorite books.

    I love surrounding myself with like-minded people, and want to definitely stay connected with you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Demetria, so do I! You never know who or what the universe will send your way, if you're open enough to receive. So glad I decided at the last minute to join Follow Fest. We're linked through various modes of social media now, so we're sure to stay in touch. I'm very happy to have met you, even if only online. Wishing you very well with your spiritual journey as well.

      Delete
  8. I'm so glad I got a chance to connect with you. If you check out my FollowFest blog post, look at my previous post about the pebbles and my book deal. I think you'll appreciate it. Also, I absolutely love the art on your Pinterest board. I'm going to have to go back and take my time looking at all of it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pat, I can't wait to read the post you're talking about...on my way now. Thanks! I'm glad you stopped over and that you like my art.

      Delete
    2. I checked it out. What a magickal thing to happen! Congratulations. I find further synchronicity to this. You just shared the post and your book deal with me today but posted it on my birthday.

      Delete
    3. It was also posted on my wedding anniversary. That's a special day for sure. I subscribed to your posts. My fiction is purely for entertainment, but it has a spiritual core which jives with your nonfiction :)

      Delete
    4. LOL. I'm back again. HUGE congratulations. I can totally relate to how hard the querying process is. But when the match happens it makes the struggle worthwhile. Yay!

      Delete
    5. Thanks Pat! I must admit, I'm partial to that day for sure. I really like the sound of your work and will be sure to check it out. I'm glad you subscribed to my posts and I hope you get something out of them.

      Delete
  9. Hello, Stephanie, nice to meet you!! Much success on your transformation!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks!

      Nice to meet you too and to learn about your work Cathrina. Best of luck to you with your writing. I'll be stopping in to see how things are going now that we've connected through Follow Fest.

      Delete
  10. Magick is right up our alley! You will need to teach us how to have a stronger bond through Laws of Attraction!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dani & Jax, that's so cool! I'll be posting more about Law of Attraction because I'm really getting into it and I can tell, it's really working.

      Delete
  11. I love it when people practice magick!

    ReplyDelete
  12. What an awesome idea! A fellow writer emailed me recently to ask how I get so many comments on my blogs. I told her I READ other blogs and comment them. I could tell she didn't like that answer. People want to post a blog and have readers just show up--that doesn't happen unless you're Stephenie Meyer!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is pretty awesome and we have Melissa to thank. Join us next year because what you said about being a dedicated reader is absolutely right.

      Delete
  13. Hi Stephanie, it's nice to meet you. I've been studying Wicca for several years, but I don't practice it as much as I should. I've also studied shamanism. It's always nice to meet a kindred spirit! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Renee, Indeed it is always great to meet kindred spirits. Glad we came across each other this week! Will stay in touch.

      Delete
  14. Hi Stephanie. Wow, you're busy! I'm glad I got to meet you through Follow Fest!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Nice to know more about you Stephanie. I have just started reading Stephen King and I am loving it !!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks a bunch Jyotsna! Yes, Stephen King is great, he always keep up an exciting pace and there are many twists and turns within his plots. Hope you enjoy!

      Delete
  16. Great to meet you through Follow Fest! It sounds like you've got an interesting education. I love the herbalist aspect. I have a fictional character who is an herbalist, but only in the healing way. On his world, conjuring is done with paint instead of herbs.

    Hope to see you around!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Interesting Loni! Thanks for stopping by. Your character sounds very intriguing.

      Delete
  17. Great to meet you through follow fest. Can't get enough of Poe either.

    ReplyDelete
  18. You are so busy with so many things! I am in awe of your creativity.

    <3

    ReplyDelete
  19. Thanks Mia! It's so nice of you to say that. Am currently gathering up energy to attack this week productively. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  20. Great to meet you. I have pull out my paints in quite some time.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Go ahead. Make my day by leaving a comment.

Popular posts from this blog

Gran Bwa

Gran Bwa is a lwa that helps you connect to ancestral roots or the spiritual home of Vodou. A friend of mine, who is an expert on Haitian Vodou, who has spent a lot of time in Haiti with the artists there, told me I had painted Gran Bwa when I made this spontaneous work out of walnut ink and sumi-ink on handmade paper. I had considered this painting a self-portrait. She now holds this piece in her private collection: Quite a few people are afraid of Vodou but it is an awe-inspiring tradition of bringing together plant energy with divinity, spiritual and personal energy. My friend who is very involved with Vodou, especially the art that surrounds it, is from European ancestry. She is light in spirit and bubbly, with a close relationship to nature and her garden.  Vodou affirms the relationships between cycles of life, trees of knowledge and spirit.  The Vodou vision of lwa , understands them as the intelligence of energy present in humans, nature and thoughts.  Mysteries ca

Xochitl--Flower

                                     (Winter Poinsettia by Stephanie Rose Bird, oil on wood) One of my Facebook friends does daily posts and shares called "I love Flowers." I love flowers too, in real life, in my garden, in paintings and as they are related to the gods and goddesses, in healing, as well as their use in folklore like Hoodoo. Not long ago I posted about Xochipelli (Sho-CHEE-pee-lee) prince of flowers and Xochiquetzal (Sho-CHEE-ket-zul) goddess of flowers in anticipation of April's blooming season.  The Goddess and Prince of Flowers post  is here. Today, I want to focus in on the root word of their names and it's symbolism. This word is Xochitl (Show-CHEE-tul) in the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs. This word means flower.                                            ( Frida Kahlo "Self Portrait Dedicated to Dr. Eloesser) In many different belief systems there are nature gods and goddesses connected with flowers. Flowers possess symbolism,